Robinson successfully defended his school from closure, fought for the unification of the teaching unions, mentored future trade union leaders and transformed teaching at the Marx Memorial Library, writes JOHN FOSTER
‘Apres moi, le deluge’ — a televised carnival of ruling-class avarice
After the Horizon Post Office affair, STEPHEN ARNELL looks at Tory (and other) disasters worthy of being dramatised for the small screen
A post office sign in Aldwych, central London, January 11, 2024
A judge in a German court ruled that the ban activity imposed on renowned Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah was unlawful, reports LEON WYSTRYCHOWSKI
At the very moment Britain faces poverty, housing and climate crises requiring radical solutions, the liberal press promotes ideologically narrow books while marginalising authors who offer the most accurate understanding of change, writes IAN SINCLAIR
From Gaza protest bans to proscribing Palestine Action, political elites are showing a crisis of confidence as they abandon Roy Jenkins’s apologetic approach for Suella Braverman’s aggressive ‘hate march’ rhetoric, writes PAUL DONOVAN
ANSELM ELDERGILL examines the legal case behind this weekend’s Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival and the lessons for today
Ben Chacko talks to RMT leader EDDIE DEMPSEY about how the key to fixing broken Britain lies in collective sectoral bargaining, restoring unions’ ability to take solidarity strike action and bringing about the much-vaunted ‘wave of insourcing’
The summer of 1950 saw Labour abandon further nationalisation while escalating Korean War spending from £2.3m to £4.7m, as the government meekly accepted capitalism’s licence and became Washington’s yes-man, writes JOHN ELLISON
ITV has rightly been taking a victory lap over the success of Mr Bates and The Post Office, the miniseries depicting the Horizon scandal and the Javert-like persecution of subpostmasters.
Reportedly, ITV wasn’t sure the show would find an audience, although it is now claiming to possess super-strategic scheduling skills… in retrospect.
Mr Bates and The Post Office has gone some way to whitewash its pre-Christmas £1.5 million hiring of Nigel Farage for I’m a Celebrity, but its boasting about the drama’s effect should be balanced with knowledge of the network’s own relatively recent troubles (within the time frame of the Post Office affair) regarding the TV phone-in scams that fleeced the public.
More from this author
The fallout from the Kneecap and Bob Vylan performances at Glastonbury raises questions about the suitability of senior BBC management for their roles, says STEPHEN ARNELL
With the news of massive pay rises for senior management while content spend dives STEPHEN ARNELL wonders when will someone call out the greed of these ‘public service’ executives
As Trump targets universities while Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem redefines habeas corpus as presidential deportation power, STEPHEN ARNELL traces how John Scopes’s optimism about academic freedom’s triumph now seems tragically premature
STEPHEN ARNELL examines whether Starmer is a canny strategist playing a longer game or heading for MacDonald’s Great Betrayal, tracing parallels between today’s rightward drift and the 1931 crisis
